Weekend at Bernie's

1. idiomaticno pluralslangA situation in which someone pretends that a dead person (or by extension, any entity) is still alive.

   John McCain went so far as to say he would pull a Weekend at Bernie's if Chairman Greenspan died while McCain was president.

   2018, Robert X. Browning, The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research, Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 47

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   A Weekend at Bernie's acted out on the gray and black stage of frozen stone. Someone laughed and was immediately hushed by their own sense of shame.

   2005 February 1, Nevada Barr, High Country, Penguin, →ISBN

   All they had to show for themselves was a Weekend at Bernie's economy, with sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts on zombie companies supposed to give the impression of life and health

   2009 February 9, Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and the Government Bailout Will Make Things Worse, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN

participle present Weekend at Bernie's-ing · participle past Weekend at Bernie's-ed · past Weekend at Bernie's-ed · participle past Weekend at Bernie's'd · past Weekend at Bernie's'd

1. slangTo move a dead body, or otherwise a nonresponsive person (such as due to illness or intoxication), while pretending that the person is alive and conscious.

   To get her home and past the eagle-eyed scrutiny of our mother the morning after, I'd had to Weekend at Bernie's her, waving her arms and nodding her head at questions

   2024 February 1, Ashley Winstead, Fool Me Once: A simmering, sizzling second-chance romcom from TikTok sensation Ashley Winstead, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN

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   I could only imagine that Rupert L. was standing Rupert P. upright with one hand and waving Rupert P.'s arm with the other. (And seeing the pictures later, I was totally right.) Rupert P. had been Weekend at Bernie's-ed after all.

   2016 May 19, Goldy Moldavsky, Kill the Boy Band, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 234

   After being Weekend at Bernie's'd by his closest doctors, Washington wasn't feeling right. He told the three doctors that he felt like his life was over and to let him go.

   2017 May 9, Dave Anthony, Gareth Reynolds, The United States of Absurdity: Untold Stories from American History, Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 110

   Jane supported his weight on one side, while Ethan propped up the other, and they practically had to Weekend at Bernie's him down the alley between the ice cream parlor and the praline shop.

   2020 December 7, Carrie Pulkinen, Santa Got Run Over by a Vampire: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy, Carrie Pulkinen

   Mostly we talk about Realm of the Ravager or Marianne or the crackpot theory that our principal is being Weekend at Bernie's-d. Obviously it's nonsense. But hilarious nonsense.

   2024 July 30, Amelia Diane Coombs, All Alone with You, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 129